ACC Bowl-a-rama Continues

First of all, let me say congratulations to the winner of the Caption Contest, Jeff Foxworthy. On a personal note, let me also say that I loved you in Blue Collar Comedy Tour. You rule.

The bowl season is upon us, but there are still ramifications from this year's bowls that should have effects into next year. First, the ACC further clarified how the selection of this year's bowl participants happened. If you have not read the article on the AJC by Tony Barnhart, here it is. Most of my rancor in my last couple of pieces about this bowl situation has been directed against the Music City Bowl, but now, as my friend Jack has said from the beginning, I am convinced that the Charlotte Oil Change Bowl is at fault. Last year they had to be forced to take Boston College and this year they blatantly went after a team other than the two that deserved it just so their pathetic little regional bowl will not fall away from the earth.

"To me, that was the biggest fallacy of the whole process," Georgia Tech athletics director Dave Braine said. "That bowl is run by Raycom, and Raycom is a partner with the ACC. But as a partner, they pass over two 5-3 teams to take a 3-5 team. That is not what a good partner does."
The Meineke Bowl defended its decision on economics, and executive director Will Webb told reporters the game would always prefer an ACC team from Virginia or the Carolinas.
The ACC has expressed concerns that the Meineke Bowl is becoming a regional bowl and not one that serves the entire conference.
"That is a conversation we will have to have," Swofford said.

Conversation you will have to have, Mr. Swofford? It sounds like this bowl was created specifically with the ACC in mind, wouldn't they be bending over backwards to make sure we don't pull out of this bowl? We have these guys at our mercy! These are the bad guys who screwed this whole thing up and we need to stick it to them in the renegotation. That is, of course, unless they think that a matchup between the Big East #2 and say, Conference USA would be more appealing to them.

One other thing I loved about this article was how stupid the Music City Bowl looked for picking UVA over GT. UVA promised to blanket Nashville in Orange and Blue and now it looks like Georgia Tech will probably donate more tickets to Bay Area charities than the Wahoos will bring to the Music City. MCB Director Scott Ramsey said, "when you have a team on the other side who is only going to bring 3,000 people [Minnesota], you have to do something." Talk about all time backfires. Right now it looks like UVA will bring just over 5,000 people to your game, Scott, bringing the grand total to right around 8,000. Bet that should be a rip-roaring time. It must have made so much since at the time to pass over a team four hours away with a much more fired up fanbase in favor of a team almost 10 hours over the Blue Ridge who just squeaked into the ranks of the bowl eligible. Chump.

Thanks to Jack for sending me another article about UVA and the stench surrounding the MCB snub. It is also a good insight into the mindsight of these boys from the Land of Jefferson. I have already ranted at length about this topic and I am about out of venom, but it does feel good to see this decision bite these guys so severly in the backside. Definitely recommended reading. -yb